Google Android

mikelove said:
Interesting that you mention the web-based Cantodict rather than one of the offline Android Chinese dictionaries, though - a web-based version of Pleco would be a heck of a lot easier than a native Android port, and with the rush to upgrade networks the "faster" argument may start to fade too. One native platform would be enough to satisfy the people who were frequently out of network coverage, I think. And of course with a web-based dictionary we'd get Symbian and BlackBerry support as an added bonus.
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This is an excellent point (and one I didn't think of). High speed data availability is not anywhere as big an issue outside the US as it is inside. I can get up to 21Gbps (yup!) here in Hong Kong not to mention the countless wifi hotspots in this city. I would definitely be up for a web-based version of your dictionary. I hate being tied to a phone platform - especially WM!
 
We've already got several potential options for handwriting recognition if we do do an Android version, so I'm not worried about that. Though it seems well within the realm of possibility that Google might build Chinese handwriting support into Android at some point.
 
Actually, I'm very surprised that Google hasn't developed any Chinese handwriting recognition for Android yet. From what I've read, Android should become very popular in the Chinese market.
 
Well, that being said, Apple may have only included handwriting on iPhone because they already owned a (decent-but-not-all-that-great) Chinese handwriting engine from the Advanced Chinese Input thing they released in the '90s. Google AFAIK hasn't developed their own Chinese handwriting input technology yet, and while I'm quite confident they could, perhaps they prefer to leave it up to OEMs to license a Chinese handwriting recognizer for their devices - some of them may already have unlimited-use licenses for those anyway.
 
What about collaborating with other companies that are already entering the Android space? For example ChinesePod. They make a great desktop program and apparently they've made one for Android as well:

http://blog.chinesepod.com/2009/02/24/the-chinesepod-quick-review-app-for-android

One of the big problems though is that it doesn't have handwriting recognition and lacks many of the awesome advanced features that Pleco has. Working together could be a great win-win as you guys could build upon the ChinesePod application instead of starting from scratch. :wink:
 
Honestly, in cases like this the time taken to figure out / sync up with another company's code is probably just as much time as we'd spend creating our own version of what they'd one. Particularly since we do some very unusual things like using our own custom user interface controls for displaying text - not something we absolutely insist on, but we haven't found an OS yet (not even iPhone) with a text display control that was adequate for our purposes.
 
Gartner predicts Android ahead of iPhone by 2012:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ ... ys_Gartner
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Gartner's predicting annual sale of 70 million Android phones in 2012. Sounds overly optimistic, considering this year's Android sale will only be 3-4 million.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ ... ys_Gartner
The complete Gartner forecast for smartphone OSes by the end of 2012 puts Symbian on top with 203 million devices sold, and 39% of the market. Android will be second with nearly 76 million units sold, and 14.5% of the market.

Coming in a close third, the iPhone will ship on 71.5 million devices in 2012, giving a 13.7% market share. Windows Mobile will finish fourth, with 66.8 million units sold, or 12.8% of the market.

Very close behind Windows Mobile, the BlackBerry OS will sell on 65.25 million devices in 2012, Gartner forecasts, making it fifth with 12.5% market share.
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I was about to post the same link!

My Treo finally died so I bought an HTC Hero, here in Hong Kong. It's a really, really nice phone. And it already has Chinese handwriting recognition built in, although I don't know if it's as good as what Pleco is already using. Several other types of Chinese input built in as well.

Android is the wave of the future Mike! :D
 
Welcome to the Hero/Android fan club :)

Interesting to hear HWR is built in. Do you know if its also available as a separate download? Of course, my UK version doesn't have it :(
 
westmeadboy said:
Welcome to the Hero/Android fan club :)

Interesting to hear HWR is built in. Do you know if its also available as a separate download? Of course, my UK version doesn't have it :(
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Check out http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4696020 for information on how to get handwriting recognition on your Android device :wink:

Everything is in place, now we just need the excellent Pleco dictionary on our platform! :idea:

Edit: I gotta say, I just saw the PlecoDict for iPhone video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZTbCME4jZA) and it just *rules*. I don't think you could compare any of the current Chinese IME + dictionary combinations on Android to what Pleco is doing on the iPhone. Definitely a killer app :shock:
 
westmeadboy said:
Oh, you have 1.6 on your Hero already? I assume you've rooted it to get that?
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I'm not sure if you're talking to me :D but in case you are, I'm using a MyTouch 3G (T-Mobile USA version) with the latest CyanogenMod ROM (4.1.999).
 
Zoide said:
I'm not sure if you're talking to me :D but in case you are, I'm using a MyTouch 3G (T-Mobile USA version) with the latest CyanogenMod ROM (4.1.999).
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I get that all the time. There's just one other person in the room, I start talking, and they just assume I'm talking to myself or some imaginary/invisible being :)

Ah, OK you rooted. I'm holding off the rooting path until I really have to.

I just tried the moto apks and unfortunately when I switch to the IME, it just comes up as a blank screen. Maybe because I'm still on 1.5. I'll try again when I'm running 1.6. In no rush.

Thank you for your help! ("you(r)" means "Zoide('s)" here)
 
Gartner also has Symbian still ruling the market in 2012. Two things wrong with that: first off, I don't think that'll be the case, and second, Symbian's also on top now but that doesn't make it a good platform to write software for: very few people are making money writing Symbian apps, and most of the phones running it are really more in the vein of "feature phones" than actual smartphones (whatever the report may say). So that calls into question whether Android will likewise be successful-but-not-so-good-for-third-party-developers; I've read a number of reports that people with software for both Android and iPhone are seeing only a tiny fraction as many sales on Android as they are on iPhone. Plus, Gartner seems to be hedging their bets by predicting that Android / iPhone / WM / BlackBerry will all be within two percentage points of each other; I have a hard time imaging the market will really shake out that evenly.

But beyond that, on the issue of Android in general: we've just spent about a year developing an iPhone version of Pleco, and it's still not out yet (though it's getting extremely close). During that time, we've only managed to make a few modest improvements to our existing software; most of our time has been spent simply reimplementing the same things we already had working perfectly well on other platforms on iPhone. And an Android port would almost certainly be more complicated than an iPhone one on account of the need for Java/C crossovers. So if we started working on an Android port right now, I don't think it'd be ready until well into 2011, and between now and then we'd again be neglecting our existing software as far as adding new features / new types of add-on content / etc.

If the iPhone version takes us up into the stratosphere money-wise, either directly by tripling / quadrupling our sales or indirectly by attracting a whole bunch of VC money (something I'm finally about ready to concede the virtues of), then an Android port might make sense - we could be working on that at the same time as 2 or 3 other big things. Absent that, though, the only way I can see us developing a native Android version is if our backs are against the wall - i.e., if people start to lose interest in iPhone as they have in Palm OS / Windows Mobile. Otherwise, I'd rather spend our limited resources / time on adding new features to our existing products. (and for purposes of this discussion I consider a desktop product to be a "new feature" since it makes possible all sorts of capabilities we haven't had before, not to mention taking probably only a few months to port from our existing Windows Mobile / iPhone OS versions)

A web-based product that runs on Android is a possibility, though, and while I disagree with some aspects of their design / interface, I've been heartened by the success of Skritter as a web-only Chinese learning app; launching a web-based version of Pleco would finally put all of these "when will you support X" discussions to bed, along with being considerably easier than a native Android port (aside from the licensing / business issues).
 
Plus, Gartner seems to be hedging their bets by predicting that Android / iPhone / WM / BlackBerry will all be within two percentage points of each other; I have a hard time imaging the market will really shake out that evenly.
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Good point. Everybody (except Symbian) having about the same market share in a fairly mature market, as it will be in 2012, seems highly unlikely. There's usually a clearly dominant player in most technology areas, whether it's due to the economy of scale, clearly superior technology or early mover advantage.

Gartner Forecast for 2012
1. Symbian 39%
2. Android 14.5
3. iPhone 13.7%
4. Windows Mobile 12.8%
5. BlackBerry 12.5%
 
I'm not so sure but what I would guess is that Gartner have put a lot more research into this than any of us have and so there may be non-obvious reasons for their predictions.

For example, I'm sure that the cheapest Android devices will be cheaper than the cheapest iPhones and so that's already a massive advantage in the Asian and African markets.

OK, that's just a thought (maybe completely wrong :) ) but my point is that they probably have good reason to make their predictions so its probably wise to not just dismiss it so easily...
 
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